CNN: North Korea orders military to prepare for possible strikes on U.S. bases

North Korea on Tuesday served up its latest round of threats against the United States, saying it plans to place military units on combat ready status to prepare for possible strikes on U.S. bases. The North Korean Supreme Command "will put our military on number one combat ready status, with strategic rocket units and long-range artillery units to prepare for possible strikes against the U.S. mainland, Hawaii and Guam and other American and South Korean military units in the Pacific," the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

The meaning of marriage. It's an issue that does not get more basic, yet the complexity surrounding the legal, social, and political implications of expanding that right to gays and lesbians is now squarely before the Supreme Court. The justices launch an epic public dialogue on Tuesday when they hear oral arguments in the first of two appeals to state and federal laws restricting same-sex marriage. The second round will be on Wednesday.

The health-care law could prove to be a boon for temporary-staffing companies as employers outsource jobs to sidestep complex requirements for medical insurance. But some experts say the Affordable Care Act’s exceptions for temporary employees could undercut the goal of expanding coverage to more American workers. “That could lead to an increase in part-time workers” who lack insurance, said Susan N. Houseman, an economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research who studies staffing companies. “You regulate something and people will always try to find a way around the regulation.”

A Tucson gun store owner has decided to rescind the sale of a military-style rifle to Mark Kelly, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, after Kelly said he had intended the purchase to make a political point about how easy it is to obtain the kind of firearms he's lobbying Congress to ban. Kelly's March 5 purchase of an AR-15-style rifle and a 45.-caliber handgun at Diamondback Police Supply sparked a frenzy of reaction from both sides of the debate after he posted to Facebook a photo of himself shopping. A background check took only a matter of minutes to complete, Kelly said in the Facebook post, adding that it's scary to think people can buy similar guns without background checks at gun shows or on the Internet. Store owner Doug MacKinlay said Monday in a Facebook post of his own that he "determined that was in my company's best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store."

Persistent drought and an infestation of tree-killing insects have left broad swaths of the USA vulnerable to unusually fierce wildfires for the second straight year just as the U.S. Forest Service is dealing with cuts in its fire-fighting budget. Areas most at risk include Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, the eastern Rockies and Florida, according to the federal government's most recent fire analysis. More than 9.3 million acres of public and private land — an area larger than Maryland — burned in 2012, the third most-active wildfire season since 1960, according to the Forest Service. The agency spent $1.4 billion fighting them.

The pot industry in Colorado is undergoing a massive makeover as it prepares to begin selling marijuana for recreational use legally under state law. Businesses are ramping up production, and trade associations are cleaning up their image, anticipating what could be a billion-dollar industry. But the entrepreneurs who are hoping to cash in on the “green rush” starting next year are struggling with the unique challenges of conducting a business that the federal government considers a crime.

A bill that would have required voters in Arkansas to produce photo identification before being allowed a ballot was rejected on Monday by the state's Democratic governor, who said the measure was too expensive and could disenfranchise legal voters. Gov. Mike Beebe wrote that he thought the bill "unnecessarily restricts and impairs our citizens' right to vote," adding the implementation costs would have risen to $300,000.

As the manhunt for fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner heated up last month, several municipalities and organizations offered large cash rewards for information leading to his capture. Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa even announced a $1-million reward. But now that Dorner is dead, at least one city says its offer is off the table. The Riverside City Council passed a resolution in February offering $100,000 for information leading to the "arrest and conviction" of Dorner, according to Riverside city spokesperson Cindie Perry. But "because the conditions were not met, there will not be a payment of a reward by the city," Perry wrote in an email Monday night.

Jerry Sandusky is a pedophile and was rightfully convicted, filmmaker John Ziegler said. But after controversial interviews with the incarcerated former PennState assistant coach, the A.M. radio talk show host may have cast some doubt on witness testimony that led to that conviction. Sandusky will probably be incarcerated for the rest of his life for child sex abuse convictions, but he is having his say outside the prison walls in these recorded phone conversations. Ziegler aired some of Sandusky's animated responses during in interview with CNN's Piers Morgan late Monday, as well as over the Internet.

The Hill: After taking hit in the polls, Obama pivots back to immigration reform

The White House hopes to bolster President Obama’s political standing by shifting attention from the bruising budget battles of the last month to immigration reform and gun control. Democrats welcome the pivot after watching Obama’s standing in polls fall amid fights with Congress over the budget and the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester.

President Barack Obama marked the start of Passover Monday night with a Seder at the White House. It's a yearly tradition for the president that began on the campaign trail in 2008. "This has been a very, very powerful event for the president," Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday, adding that Obama planned to use the Seder plate given to him by Sara Netanyahu last week during his trip to Israel.

House and Senate budget leaders face a new mission impossible: reconciling their wildly different blueprints. The Senate’s passage of a budget for the first time in four years sets the stage for leaders to name conferees to negotiate a compromise measure. A reconciled budget resolution would then be put before the full House and Senate for votes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have made no decisions about when to take these steps, congressional sources said. “No decisions have been made at this point, but the leaders will be discussing next steps with [House Budget Committee] Chairman [Paul] Ryan and our members in the days and weeks ahead,” a House GOP leadership aide said.

Sen. John McCain on Monday would not commit to a timeline on the release of the comprehensive immigration reform legislation he and a bipartisan group of senators have been working on for months, saying the negotiations are continuing even during a two-week break for Easter. McCain, R-Ariz., and the other members of the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” left Capitol Hill without coming to terms last week on major points of contention such as the future flow of immigrant workers and border-security triggers. The senators had hoped to introduce the bill when they return the week of April 8, but the unresolved issues could potentially delay that. …McCain on Wednesday plans to tour the Arizona-Mexico border with three other members of the group: Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.; and Michael Bennet, D-Colo.

Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation, according to a letter they plan to hand-deliver to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office on Tuesday. “We will oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,” the three conservatives wrote in a copy of the signed letter obtained by POLITICO.

WaPo: Vitter’s efforts in the Senate outlast the shadow of his scandal

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is suddenly in high demand. His banishment is over, his rehabilitation almost complete. Several years after acknowledging his “very serious sin,” he has successfully adopted a higher profile in the divided U. S. Senate. Vitter is teaming up with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the chamber’s leading environmental advocate, to shore up levees and beach fronts from flood risk. He is working with one of the financial industry’s biggest thorns, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), on the latest bill targeting mega-banks and their “too big to fail” status. When he’s not working across party lines, Vitter is throwing his increased seniority around in stronger ways: Last week he vowed to block President Obama’s nominee for Labor secretary until the administration releases documents about voting rights issues in Louisiana.

The stealth nature of Google Glass is raising concerns among some lawmakers and privacy experts who say the device makes it too easy for users to spy on others and its development signals a deeper blurring between the digital and real worlds. While we all may understand the safety hazards and social norms presented when holding our phones up to record or text others, but wearable computers, because they are more inconspicuous, present complications, especially whether they can be regulated through existing electronic surveillance laws, critics say.

Senate Democrats are expecting their colleague Sen. Tim Johnson to announce his retirement at an event in his home state of South Dakota Tuesday, according to a senior Democratic congressional source. The event is scheduled to take place at Johnson's alma mater, the University of South Dakota. A press release said the event would be "regarding the 2014 election."

Mark Zuckerberg is now trying to influence your life in a whole new way. The Facebook billionaire just made a major money move into politics, reportedly putting up $20 million of his own fortune to help launch a Silicon Valley non-profit organization. Sources tell CNN that Zuckerberg is one of a growing group of mega-wealthy tech stars throwing their famous names behind an issue advocacy organization to make waves in Washington. They are forming a 501(c)4, a non-profit organization that can raise unlimited amounts of money to lobby Congress on the issues they care about – starting with immigration.

The culture wars are back, but this time with a significant twist: the left is picking the fights and, for the most part, enjoying being on the right side of public opinion. Five years after Barack Obama warned that anxious voters are just “clinging” to guns and religion, wedge issues are cutting differently — more to the liking of Democrats. Gay marriage is the talk of capital city parties. Lawmakers are working across the aisle on immigration reform plans. And New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg just committed $12 million to pressure Congress to tighten gun control laws.

After remaining mum on the subject when asked about it last week, Sen. Mark Begich's office issued a statement Monday night from the senator supporting marriage equality. "I believe that same sex couples should be able to marry and should have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other married couple," the Alaskan senator said in what appears to be his first direct statement on the subject.

Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a potential contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is collaborating on a book with Marc Thiessen, a former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. “I think Scott wants to do more to tell his story,” says a Wisconsin Republican familiar with the project. “Everybody knows about what he’s done, but not everybody knows about him. This book will be something that colors in the picture.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a previously unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Monday to repair strained relations with President Hamid Karzai as the American-led international force continues to prepare to end its combat mission next year. Kerry's stop came on the same day that U.S. forces turned over control of a prison that has caused tension between the two nations, with Americans retaining a say on the handling of certain Taliban inmates.

Gunmen and suicide bombers attacked police in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday morning, leaving five officers dead, police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that occurred in the city of Jalalabad. Six or seven civilians were also injured in the violence and five of the attackers died, according to Mohammad Sharif Amin, a local police spokesman.

American Special Operations forces and Special Force troops tasked to work with U.S. intelligence agents are training small groups of Syrian opposition forces in Jordan, U.S. military sources told Fox News. The U.S. trainers are working alongside their Jordanian counterparts to facilitate the training, which has been going on for the past eight to 12 months, the sources say. The training program, first reported by the Associated Press, involves classes of about 50 to 60 secular Syrian fighters led by about 100 American trainers, a number that was capped by the Jordanian government. The program is part of a bid to bolster forces battling President Bashar Assad's regime and stem the influence of Islamist radicals among the country's persistently splintered opposition.

Reuters: Japan, Australia to sanction North Korean bank as part of U.S.-led crackdown

Japan and Australia plan to sanction North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank as part of U.S.-led efforts targeting Pyongyang's main foreign exchange bank for the role Washington says it has in funding the country's nuclear program. A Japanese government source said Tokyo could act within the next two to three weeks. Australian Foreign Ministry sources said Canberra might also unveil sanctions soon. A senior U.S. official said the Obama administration was trying to convince other governments to crack down on the bank after Washington announced its own measures this month.

Russian and U.S. defense chiefs signaled on Monday their intention to reconvene long-stalled missile defense talks, the Pentagon said, following a change in U.S. missile defense plans for Europe that has been met cautiously by Moscow. There have been no meetings at the deputy minister-level since 2011, when six were held, a U.S. defense official told Reuters. Talks set for 2012 were canceled because of scheduling conflicts, he said. The Pentagon said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed a desire to reconvene the talks, and that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel assured him they would continue and would be carried forward by the Pentagon's policy chief, Jim Miller.

A government attorney urged the Supreme Court to allow authorities to crack down on cash deals among prescription drug makers that delay the introduction of generic drugs and keep consumer prices high. The so-called pay-for-delay deals, which allow brand-name drug companies to keep cheaper generic drugs off the market for a time, violate antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission argued Monday. …The FTC said that more than two dozen such deals cost consumers $3.5 billion last year. Companies such as CVS Caremark Corp., Rite Aid Corp., Walgreen Co., Albertson's and Safeway Inc. joined the FTC in urging the court to rein in the deals.

Boeing took a key step to returning its 787 to commercial service when it undertook on Monday the first flight of an aircraft fitted with new batteries adapted to minimise the risk of overheating. A Dreamliner took off at 12:11pm Pacific time from the airfield at Boeing’s main production plant in Everett, Washington, for the “functional test flight” and returned two hours later. The flight is the first by a 787 fitted with lithium-ion batteries remodelled to reduce the risk of further overheating incidents such as the one that caused a fire on a 787 at Boston’s Logan Airport on January 7, and a second incident in which another aircraft was forced to divert to Takamatsu in Japan on January 16.

Measured in millimeters, the tiny device was designed to allow drones, missiles and rockets to hit targets without satellite guidance. An advanced version was being developed secretly for the U.S. military by a small company and L-3 Communications, a major defense contractor. On Monday, Sixing Liu, a Chinese citizen who worked at L-3’s space and navigation division, was sentenced in federal court here to five years and 10 months for taking thousands of files about the device, called a disk resonator gyroscope, and other defense systems to China in violation of a U.S. arms embargo. The case illustrates what the FBI calls a growing “insider threat” that hasn’t drawn as much attention as Chinese cyber operations. But U.S. authorities warned that this type of espionage can be just as damaging to national security and American business.

An angry passenger used his mother's old Air France employee documents to con his way into the cockpit of a US Airways flight last week, according to the criminal complaint filed against him Monday in U.S District Court in Philadelphia. Philippe Jeannard, 61, had become disruptive Wednesday after being told that the airline could not accommodate his request to move up to business class during a stopover in Philadelphia. FBI Special Agent Brian L. Jones described Jeannard in an affidavit as difficult and verbally abusive to a flight attendant and gate supervisor.

A U.S. housing regulator is cracking down on a little-known practice that has hit millions of struggling borrowers with high-price homeowners' insurance policies arranged by banks that benefit from the costly coverage. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae FNMA +4.67% and Freddie Mac, FMCC +3.96% plans to file a notice Tuesday to ban lucrative fees and commissions paid by insurers to banks on so-called force-placed insurance. Such "forced" policies are imposed on homeowners whose standard property coverage lapses, typically because the borrower stops making payments.

A session of the New York City Council had descended into chaos, and lawmakers were openly questioning her leadership. Ms. Quinn, the Council speaker, decided there was one person to blame: Betsy Gotbaum, then the city’s public advocate, who had been presiding. The response was sudden and fierce.

The Iowa Senate approved legislation Monday night to add more than 100,000 low-income Iowans to the state-federal Medicaid health insurance program, setting up a showdown with Gov. Terry Branstad. Senate File 296 was approved 26-23 on a straight party line vote with Democrats in favor and Republicans against. Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, was excused.

For 20 years, Tampa home builder Timothy Mobley and U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan have been friends. They vacation together, bicycle together and at times have done business together. Now that friendship has exacted a heavy toll, though not as heavy as federal prosecutors wanted. A federal judge in Jacksonville last week sentenced Mobley to three years' probation and fined him $200,000 for making illegal contributions to Buchanan's campaigns and the Republican Party of Florida.

Gov. Bobby Jindal's 2013 tax proposal includes a provision to do away with the state's Second-Amendment sales-tax holiday that has been in place since 2009. Since it was instated, the tax holiday has stretched the first consecutive Friday, Saturday and Sunday in September, a time when many Louisiana residents are buying gear in preparation for the approaching hunting seasons.

The Austin school district plans to extend health insurance benefits to domestic partners, months after the Pflugerville school district made history by becoming the first in the state to do so. Beginning Sept. 1, the Austin district will provide insurance benefits to same-sex partners and unmarried heterosexual couples. The additional benefits are expected to cost the district about $600,000.

Cyprus' banks will remain shut until Thursday to give regulators time to guard against a run on deposits, the Ministry of Finance announced Monday. Cyprus agreed early Monday to raise billions of euros from big depositors at the Bank of Cyprus and Popular Bank of Cyprus, and to shrink its banking sector dramatically, in return for a €10 billion European Union rescue package.

The death toll from sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar has risen to 40, state media reported Tuesday, as the government struggles to deal with rising ethnic tensions in the nascent democracy.

China's new president sought to address concerns among African leaders about the uneven nature of trade relations on Monday, promising an equal relationship that would promote development on the continent. Xi Jinping made the speech defending China's economic role in Africa in Tanzania, the first stop of his African tour. He travels to South Africa on Tuesday and will attend a summit of the BRICS countries in the port city of Durban on Wednesday.

Israel said it would resume the transfer of tax funds to the Palestinian Authority in response to requests from the US, three days after President Barack Obama concluded a visit to the region. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, on Monday announced he had authorised the move after consulting with his Security Cabinet, an inner circle of ministers.

Living in poverty in a mud shack in Pakistan, Mazhar Ali dropped out of school, sold the family’s two buffalo and bought a visa to work in Dubai. The money he sends home is paying for a new house. “We’re going to build three rooms with bricks and cement, plus a courtyard and a washroom,” said his younger brother Azhar in Larkana, home town of the ruling People’s Party about 300 kilometers north of Karachi. “We will then start marrying one by one, starting with Mazhar sometime this year.” The family’s change in fortunes reflects a rising trend of rich nations with aging workers tapping poorer ones for labor - total remittances to developing economies will rise 7.9 percent this year, and reach $534 billion by 2015, the World Bank says. For Pakistan, the income offers a source of stability, with the country poised for its first civilian handover of government in May even amid power shortages, bombings and a Taliban insurgency.

Russian authorities conducted a surprise audit at the Moscow office of human-rights group Amnesty International, the latest move in what activists say is a widening state campaign against nongovernmental organizations that has sent authorities to the doorstep of scores of groups across Russia since early March.

Japan and South Korea are haltingly moving to mend their bruised relationship, encouraged by U.S. officials eager to maintain a united front of allies as China's influence rises across the region and as North Korea has stepped up its bellicose rhetoric. Signs of a thaw have come as both countries have installed new leaders and as Washington has expressed growing impatience with repeated flare-ups over disagreements left unresolved since World War II.

Haaretz: Australian FM: We want 'comprehensive' answers from Israel on Zygier case

Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr on Monday called for a full explanation from Israel on the circumstances leading up to the death of Australian-born alleged Mossad agent Ben Zygier, known previously as Prisoner X, in an Israeli prison in 2010. Speaking to reporters in Washington at the end of a week-long visit to the U.S., Carr said that Australia needs answers on the case.

BRICS emerging powers on Tuesday sought a deal on setting up a development bank that would rival Western-backed institutions, trying to iron out significant differences ahead of a leaders' summit in Durban. The grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and hosts South Africa are racing to flesh out proposals for an infrastructure-focused lender that would challenge seven decades of dominance by the World Bank.

The republican terror group Oglaigh Na hEireann has claimed that a car bomb abandoned in CountyFermanagh at the weekend was to be detonated at the hotel hosting the G8 summit of world leaders in June. In a coded statement to the Guardian on Monday afternoon, the anti-ceasefire republican dissident organisation also admitted responsibility for an attempted mortar bomb attack on the heavily fortified New Barnsley police station in west Belfast two weeks ago.

In weighing a bid for The Los Angeles Times, Rupert Murdoch finds himself in a familiar role: waiting for rule changes from the government. With the resignation last week of Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, he may have to wait a little longer. Mr. Murdoch, who has never shied away from a regulatory battle, has been beefing up News Corporation’s lobbying efforts in Washington in the last few months to urge regulators to revise a media ownership rule that would prevent the company from acquiring The Los Angeles Times and other newspapers in markets in which it already owns television stations.

A member of the Federal Reserve's inner circle Monday promoted a plan for the central bank to scale back the pace of its bond-buying program as the jobs market improves, though he stressed that a decision on how to proceed is far from imminent. William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a speech the Fed "should calibrate" how much U.S. debt and mortgage-backed securities it buys each month "by allowing the flow rate of purchases to respond to material changes in the labor market outlook."

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens said the Group of 20 should focus on implementing rule changes in the financial system rather than adding new reforms when Australia takes over the presidency next year. “To task the regulatory community and the financial industry with further wholesale changes from here would risk overload,” Stevens said in the text of a speech today in Sydney. “By 2014 we will have reached a point in the financial regulatory sphere where the G20 should be looking for careful and sustained efforts at implementation of the regulatory reforms that have already been broadly agreed.”

soundoff(6 Responses)

Marie MD

That little twerp from KY thinks that filibustering wityh his crazy Canadian (thanks goodness he can't run for president) from TX is going to get him elected president?
Obstruction of everything and anything to make a name for yourself is NOT going to help you. You have already said and done enjough to turn almost everyone in the country against you. Libertarians might noto want big government but you are part of that big government, you little rat's behind!

March 26, 2013 06:43 am at 6:43 am |

king

all these govenors who are against the obama plan that covers millions of people in their states are dum. because this is not just an opportunity to take care of the less fortunate in their states, its an opportunity to grow jobs. the healthcare revolution is putting millions of people back to work. and creating new businesses all around them. we are not living in the assembly lines of the industrial revolution anymore folks, that had been taken over by robots, computer systems and cheap foreign workers. obama put out his healthcare law at the start of his presidency, because he knew that this was the only program to get small town America, who had seen their factories moved away to china for less cost. now small town America is seeing more and more businesses coming back to their town, because of the healthcare industry. the repubs have been saying that this program will kill the american economy, but the fact shows that the economy and jobs have been growing from the time the economy crashed. its been jobs, month after month after month, and the obamacare industry has been in the forefront all this time and its not even fully implemented as yet. its time these repubs governors see the light, and instead of trying to kill something, they will help it strive smartly for the good of the country and its citizens.

March 26, 2013 07:20 am at 7:20 am |

Rudy NYC

CNN: North Korea orders military to prepare for possible strikes on U.S. bases
-------------------------------
China needs to step in and take responsibility for their satellite nation. An unprovoked attack would have to be met with a swift, strong, and severe response from the United States.

Well @King I live in small town America and my small town is not benefiting from Obamacare and I doubt it will ever. Obama is a failure his health plan a waste, he doesn't know how to create the atmosphere to grow jobs . Goverment is not there to create jobs or protect or think for the people. Our forefathers that created our government thought for themselves we are supposed to also although Obama doesn't like it!

Obama has not done anything to help business in this country. He has put thousands out of their full time jobs by implementing Obamacare and thousands more can't get started because businesses can't plot their costs because of Obamacare so they just don't hire more employees!

The economy hasn't grown since Obama took office more are out of work now they just have exhausted their benefits. If the economy has grown so much why are we still at 7 or more percent unemployment and that's Obama's feel good number actual is almost double that! @King you need to quit drinking Dems Kool Aid and think for yourself.